The Ant and the Grasshopper (a modern day story)

Alongside a trail in the open Field of Mathe, a Grasshopper was lazing about, discovering and coloring patterns to his heart's content. A lone Ant passed by, bearing along, with great toil and rigor, a bag of corn he was planning to store, yet singing as he labored. Because he knew the facts, he had accurately analyzed his problem, quickly calculated his needs, while carefully considering the 'rithms' of the seasons.

"Why not stop and discover patterns with me," said the Grasshopper, "instead of toiling and moiling (grasshopper speak for "drilling and killing") your life away? You'll be much happier sitting and chitting about your work than making your repetitious rounds." The Grasshopper continued, "That Trail of Boredom you are on becomes the Path of Monotony just over the hill, you know." (Surely, he thought, this was a factor the Ant had not considered.)

But the Ant was undeterred. And he wasted not a step, still singing as he 'plotted' along, for practice had made his search for the missing factors all the easier.

"By the way, my feelers are 'Connected' to my feelings, you see?" said the Grasshopper, everyday still lazing on the trail. "I'm feeling soooo good about my discoveries. I need to be writing about the work I'm going to be doing after I finish discovering what I'm supposed to learn to do. Care to join me?"

"No, thank you. I'm preparing for what's ahead," said the Ant, as he 'Sing(ingly)Poured' his full bag into his storage bin. And off he went to glean more from even higher p(m)aths. "Quit your Trail lazin' days, Mr. Grasshopper. Get up and get to work."

"Oh," said the Grasshopper, "there's still plenty of time. But for now, this writing about my discoveries is just about filling up my hours. But I'll be 'Blazing this Trail' later."

Sadly, the Grasshopper never got past his Trail lazing days. You see, though over 'Andover' he tried, he found that he had to continually 'spiral back' to the place of his discoveries in the '(o)Penfield'. He never made it off the Lazing Trail nor did he ever reach the top of the Field of Mathe.

However, the Ant had all he needed. Not only did he successfully reach the top of the Field, he became the King Ant of the Field of Mathe, all due to his rigorous work and efficient use of time. And he ruled over the Grasshopper all his remaining days.